03/12/2003 - Health Quality Improvement Organization Receives Three Top Web Site Awards

IPRO Recognized by U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, www.HealthAwards.com for Making Quality Information More Accessible

Lake Success, NY, March 12, 2003 - IPRO, an independent health care quality evaluation and improvement organization, has received three awards for the content and design of its web site, www.ipro.org. The first - the Common Knowledge "Best Practices" Award - was presented to IPRO by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a federal agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The second and third awards, the World Wide Web Health Awards, were given by www.healthawards.com.

"These prestigious awards provide independent validation that we are using the Internet effectively to educate Medicare beneficiaries, health care providers, and caregivers about health quality issues," says Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer, IPRO. "In the first case, we are being recognized for creating best practices that give consumers faster access to new quality information in Medicare's Nursing Home COMPARE database. These practices were adopted across the country," says Will. "In the second instance, we have been recognized -- with two awards -- as the nonprofit organization that provides essential information to health professionals."

The CMS award was given to IPRO at a recent national meeting of Medicare quality improvement organizations, or QIOs (IPRO is the QIO for New York). The award, given by Stephen F. Jencks, M.D., Director, CMS Quality Improvement Group, cites IPRO for "development of effective and efficient web site designs that they generously shared with other QIOs." Specifically, IPRO created a simple web site design that enables consumers to click on any area of a New York State map to be linked directly to nursing home quality data for that region. Other states adopted IPRO's design as the Nursing Home Quality Initiative rolled out across the nation last fall, making new user-friendly quality information available to millions of Medicare beneficiaries and caregivers.

IPRO earned two awards, dominating the "Community Organization/Nonprofit" category in the World Wide Web Health Awards. IPRO tied for a first place Silver award for the "Best Site Design for Physicians, Nurses and Other Clinicians," according to the Health Information Resource Center (HIRC), the national health information clearinghouse that gives the awards. Additionally, HIRC gave IPRO a Merit award for its QI Projects Database, an online resource for health professionals and facilities in New York State working to improve their quality of care. Both awards take into account web site characteristics including ease of navigation/usability, design/visual appeal, credibility of content, timeliness of content, and readability.

With nearly 20 years experience in health care quality evaluation, IPRO holds major contracts with state and federal governments to review the cost and quality of services provided to Medicaid recipients, Medicare beneficiaries, and patients enrolled in managed care organizations. Based in Lake Success, New York, IPRO also holds contracts with private-sector clients to improve the quality of privately financed services.